


One More Time

by existential_naptime



Series: Kallian Tabris [1]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Alistair becomes king, Alistair breaks up with warden, Angst, F/M, Post Campaign, i'm not crying you're crying, post camPAIN
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-18
Updated: 2015-04-18
Packaged: 2018-03-24 15:35:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3774019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/existential_naptime/pseuds/existential_naptime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Alistair becomes King, he breaks up with the Warden. They're totally not together anymore. Totally not sleeping together at all. They're not in love. </p><p>Except, you know, that they are.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One More Time

**Author's Note:**

> Could not shake this. I had to write it.

“Let me get this straight. You want me to come to your wedding... as your Best Man?” Tabris asked. 

“Yeah,” Alistair said, “I mean, you're my best friend Tabby. We've been through so much together and I'd... I would really like to have you there.” 

“At your wedding?” 

Alistair nodded, watching her intently. 

“Your wedding. Where you're getting married to... Anora. You want me to be your Best Man... woman?” 

“Tabby,” Alistair said, “They're calling you the Hero of Fereldan. Arl Eamon says that you should be there any way and well, you are my best friend.” 

“Yeah,” She said slowly, “I should go to your wedding. It's formalities, right? It's an important wedding. Loghain's daughter and the long lost son of King Maric.” 

“Exactly!” Alistair exclaimed. “It's important that the Hero of Fereldan is there. Sends the right message.” 

“This is true, and I mean, we're totally broken up. We're not seeing each other at all any more. It's totally over between us.” 

The statement would have had more weight if they hadn't been sprawled in the King's Chambers together, with their naked bodies twisted in the satin sheets of the giant bed. They were sticky with post-coital bliss, lying there like they had all the time in the world. 

“Yeah, totally not together any more,” Alistair said. 

Tabris looked sideways at him, catching his eye. The corners of his mouth quirked slightly before they both burst into laughter. Tabris buried her face into his neck and he clamped a strong hand on the back of her head. He pressed his face into her hair as he laughed, inhaling her scent and memorizing it, just in case this time, like all the previous times, was actually the last. 

They laughed until Alistair flipped her over, pressing her in to the soft mattress and kissed her breathless. His hands moved to her hips, holding them down as he shifted against her in a lazy rhythm. She moaned as she carded her fingers through his hair and Alistair could not deny himself the simple pleasure of kissing the corner of her mouth, the long column of her neck, the space between her small, high breasts. 

They had been in that bed for a while now. Alistair was sure that Tabris had come for some other purpose but for the life of him, he could not recall what it was. They had danced the same dance that they had done multiple times before. She had come to him to talk about something mundane. It could have been Warden business or a request from one of the lesser nobles who believed that they could send the Hero of Fereldan on errands just because she was an Elf. Tabris would be the perfect picture of control and then Alistair would make her laugh. Maybe she would do that snorting thing she did if she found the joke especially funny and Alistair would be lost in her. He would then do something incredibly annoying, like tuck a loose strand of hair behind her pointed ears or hug her goodbye and the instance the space between them was closed they'd fall into each others arms again. 

During the Blight, it had been different. Before the Landsmeet, before he became King, he thought that he was going to marry Tabris. Damn the Chantry. Damn her Aleinage. Damn the Grey Wardens. He was going to marry this woman. 

Then, he became King. 

So he had done the responsible thing. He had taken her aside and, with tears in his eyes, he had ended it. He had spoken about the heir he would have to have. It had been just them, then it would have been a small, personal tragedy that they could not have children together but with all of Fereldan on his back, it became a matter of duty. 

If I don't end it now, I fear I never will be able to. 

How true those words had turned out to be. He had tried so hard to stay away from her, but with the Blight they could have died at any moment. He'd be damned if he died before kissing her, before telling her that he loved her. More than I ever thought possible. 

She made that small, breathy sound she always did when he entered her. He clutched her thigh in his large hand, hitching it up to wrap around his waist. They still fumbled at one another when they had sex, clutching at the others hand and grabbing shoulder blades as they moved in to one another. Alistair swallowed his desire to mutter the words 'I love you' against her skin. They still slept together but there had been an undeniable shift in their relationship since the Landsmeet. Alistair called her Tabby instead of love or my dear. She never said I love you, not even when he was inside her. He never called her beautiful. It was if all these little shifts were their vain attempts to ween themselves off the other. 

It wasn't working particularly well. 

She wrapped herself around him when she came. Her nails raked down his back, making him hiss in pain. He'd have marks there but, in a way, their whole bodies were spotted with marks left by the other. His chest had two circular scars left from the arrows that had nearly taken them down at Ostagar had pierced his skin. On her cheek, there was a diagonal scar from their battle against the Arch Demon. 

He looked at her, her eyes still clouded by her orgasm, her lips slightly parted and her cheeks flushed. His heart seized painfully. They had been through so much together. Was he meant to pretend that none of it had ever happened? 

When he released, spilling himself deep inside of her, a guilty thought ran through his head. What would happen if, by some small miracle, he impregnated her? Would he still have to marry Anora in a week's time? His happy daydream grew. He imagined their child bridging the gap between their people. He imagined their elf-bloodied child sitting on the throne and uniting Fereldan. It could happen, he thought hopefully as he pressed a searing kiss against her lips. They would be a big, happy family. He flopped down on top of her and let her stroke his hair. Uniting people and fighting Darkspawn would be their big family tradition. 

He wanted that future so much that it ached. 

“So, you'll come to my wedding?” Alistair asked, after they had caught their breath. 

Tabris laughed, “Yeah, I guess I will.” 

Alistair smiled, flipping on his side to look at her. He got distracted by her breasts, that were still heaving up and down. When he looked back at her face, his smile faltered. 

“You know, if it's too...I don't know. You don't have to come.” 

Tabris shook her head, “No, it's fine. I mean, you were right. The Hero of Fereldan should be there.” 

She spat the phrase Hero of Fereldan with great distaste. 

Alistair nuzzled her chest, placing his hand just below her rib cage, “You don't like your new title?” 

Tabris shrugged, “It's pretty, but its useless.” 

He didn't know what to say to that, so he pressed his lips against her clavicle. They lay there for a long time, Tabris' arms circled around his shoulders and his face pressed against her breasts.

“Was this the last time?” Alistair asked, hating himself for speaking. 

It took Tabris a while to answer. 

“Yes,” She said finally and the single syllable broke his heart. “It would be foolish and wrong to continue after you're married to Anora.” 

She shifted, as though trying to pry herself from Alistair's arms. He tightened his grasp and she stopped. 

“Alistair...” 

“Just... one more time,” He said, sitting up so he could look at her. “One last kiss.” 

He reached out to touch her face. She closed the gap quickly, running her fingers through his hair. One last kiss, he thought desperately. Just one more time. 

It was over too soon. He watched her get dressed. She placed her hard armor on her soft, naked body. She tightened the straps violently, and Alistair noticed that she was shaking. 

“Come here,” He reached for her. She walked towards him on shaky knees and he carefully redid the buckles of her breast plate. She still wore armor, even in the castle. He doubted that she would ever stop, but he had seen her out of it. He had seen her vulnerable and it was beautiful. 

When he was done, he kissed the back of her neck. He kissed the space behind her ears. He almost turned her around to reclaim her lips but he stopped himself. He was weening himself off of her, he realised, and it was slowly beginning to work. Maybe next time, when she came to him with some mundane court matter, they would speak about it like they were supposed to without ending up naked on the nearest available flat surface. 

She smiled painfully at him, “I have to go.” 

Alistair didn't trust himself to speak. He knew that he would only end up begging her to stay. 

“I'll stay for the wedding,” She said. “Be your best man.” 

Alistair grinned. He almost laughed at that. Almost. 

“But then I'm going back to the Wardens. I may go to Orlais. I don't know.” She continued. 

Alistair looked down and nodded, “That would probably be for the best.” 

“I love you.” 

He looked up. She had said it so casually, like she was stating that the grass was green. 

“I love you too, Tabby,” He answered, just as lightly, just as casually. They both needed it. Passionate declarations of love did neither of them good at this point. She said I love you like she would say it again. She said I love you like she was saying goodbye. 

She walked out the door before he could stop her.

**Author's Note:**

> This may have more chapters. There's something I want to add but I'm not sure that I'll have time. We'll see. I don't know. 
> 
> Thanks for reading. I hope you like it. If not, you can yell at me on Tumblr. My URL is widowling


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